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Paul H. Steen

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  • Paul H. Steen
  • Dept: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Title: Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Engineering
  • Address: 346 Olin Hall
  • Phone: 607 255-4749
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Biography

Dr. Paul H. Steen is a Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, with field affiliations in Applied Mathematics, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He holds the Maxwell M. Upson Chair in Engineering. His expertise is in the stability of systems of liquids and gases and stability of dynamical systems, more broadly. A current focus is on deformable liquid/gas interfaces, including the shape-change of constrained drops, bridges, beads and rivulets. Steen co-invented a switchable adhesion device wherein interfaces are purposely reconfigured via electro-osmotic pumping. He is also an expert in planar-flow spin casting, a very different application in which molten metals are rapidly solidified into thin sheets, and wherein instability of the molten/gas interface can lead to undesirable reconfigurations that get frozen in the product. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (1996). He served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics from 2000-2011. He has been active in governance of the American Physical Society (APS), Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) as chair of the Fluid Dynamics Prize Selection Committee, chair of the Acrivos Dissertation Award Committee, member of the Nominations, Executive, Program, Publications and Frenkiel Award Committees. He has co-edited "A Gallery of Fluid Motion," a DFD project published by Cambridge University Press. He has delivered keynote talks at Gordon Conferences, APS, APS/DfD, AICHE and ACS meetings. He has coauthored more than 70 papers, has edited books and holds a number of patents and referees regularly for JFM, Science, Nature and PNAS, among others.
Prior to coming to Cornell, Steen received his PhD from The Johns Hopkins University in 1981 and held a post-doctoral position in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, after having completed undergraduate degrees in Engineering and English Literature at Brown University. At Cornell, he has served as Director of Graduate Studies for Chemical Engineering. He was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, enabling visits to Karlsruhe and the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany. He has been a Senior Guest Scientist at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and a Visiting Scientist with the Physics of Fluids group at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.

Research Interests

  • Stability of Interfaces
  • Flows driven by surface tension
  • Fluid dynamics of casting process
  • Heat flow in casting process
  • Electroosmotic flow and capillarity Capillary adhesion devices

Teaching Interests

  • CBE 7530: Stability & bifurcation and continuation in nonlinear systems
  • CBE 6610: Air Pollution Control
  • CBE 4320: Unit Operations

Service Interests

  • International: Associate Editor, Journal of Fluid Dynamics (Cambridge University Press)
  • National: American Physical Society/Division of Fluid Mechanics: Corrsin Award committee American Institute of Chemical Engineers/ Fluid Dynamics Programming committee
  • Cornell University: University Appeals Panel
  • College of Engineering: ad hoc committee
  • CBE department External Awards committee, chair Graduate Field committee Graduate Curriculum committee

Selected Publications

  • Steen, Paul Herman, van Lengerich. 2012. "Energy dissipation and the contact-line region of a spreading bridge." J. Fluid Mech .
  • Slater, D.M., M.J. Vogel, A.M. Macner, Paul Herman Steen. 2012. "Beetle-inspired adhesion by capillary-bridge arrays: pull-off detachment." Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology 1-17.
  • Slater, D.M., Paul Herman Steen. 2011. "Bifurcation and Stability of n coupled droplets oscillators with Sn symmetry." SIAM J. Appl. Math 71 (4): 1204-1219.
  • Cox, B.L., Paul Herman Steen. 2011. "Finite-amplitude dynamics of coupled cylindrical menisci." J. Colloid Int. Sci .
  • van Lengerich, H.B., M.J. Vogel, Paul Herman Steen. 2010. "Coarsening of capillary drops coupled by conduit networks." Phys. Rev. E 82 066312.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • APS/ DfD Vice-chair nomination (Highest Office: 2 nominations/ 1 winner (Aubrey elected)) 2011
  • Humboldt Foundation Fellowship (MPI DSO Goettingen, Germany) 2011
  • Honored Guest (New Jersey Center for Science, Technology & Mathematics (Kean University)) 2010
  • Maxwell M. Upson Professor in Engineering, endowed chair election (Cornell University) 2008
  • Henry Marion Howe Medal (ASM International) 2007

Education

  • AB (English Literature), Brown University, 1975
  • B. Sc (Engineering), Brown University, 1975
  • Ph D (Fluid Dynamics), Johns Hopkins University, 1981